Trenton Council votes on nursing education center

TRENTON — Trenton is one step closer to a new nursing education center after a city council vote last night to start the process.

The body voted 4-3 for the first time on Thomas Edison State College’s proposal to take over the abandoned Glen Cairn Arms Apartments complex on West State Street in downtown Trenton. They would demolish the existing building at an estimated cost of $1.4 million and make one payment of $300,000 to the city instead of property taxes. The proposal could come to a final vote at the Feb. 7 council meeting.

Councilwoman Kathy McBride, who voted against the deal, said she wanted to put together a committee with the other two members who voted against it, Alex Bethea and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, to hear residents’ concerns and meet with officials from Thomas Edison State College about the project.

“If we had been given that information a year ago than we would be in a better position than we are,” she said. “I don’t agree with the $300,000 offer and I think the property is prime real estate — but I need to be able to back that opinion up with facts.”

“I am of the firm belief that the city could and should ask for a better deal for this parcel,” he said.

He said Princeton University contributes to Princeton borough annually in lieu of taxes, as do other nonprofits in municipalities throughout the state. An annual contribution, he said, would be easier to stomach than a smaller one-time payment.

Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward said she would support the measure in order to keep the idea moving, but wanted to have the city’s options open. She said the second reading of the ordinance could come later than Feb. 7 and could be amended if the deal with the college changed.

“We have to be honest and consistent across the board,” she said. “We have a problem with this here and then we have no problem paying an indicted mayor?”

At the presentation of the project Tuesday, college President George Pruitt said the college would spend $1.4 million to demolish the existing building before building a new nursing education center. He said there is a limited amount of time to file for a state grant to help defray the $16.7 million planned cost for the process.

He said it will house a $1 million state-of-the-art training center for the college’s growing nursing program as well as a general testing facility for students.

The council also held the public hearing for the latest iteration of the ordinance to reduce the mayor’s salary, which will come to a vote at the Feb. 7 meeting. The last attempt to reduce his salary last year did not obtain enough votes to override a mayoral veto. The measure will need five votes to pass muster.

Holly-Ward, who introduced and re-introduced the measure, said that she brought the proposal back because “there was another step in the process:” Mack’s indictment.

Mack was indicted on federal corruption charges last month in relation to an FBI sting. Cooperating witnesses in the case approached Mack, his brother Ralphiel Mack and supporter Joseph “JoJo” Giorgianni with a plan for kickbacks in exchange for developing a city-owned parking lot.

Several residents said the mayor’s salary should not be cut and others said the council would not get the votes to get it through.

James Golden, former police director and possible mayoral candidate, said the council had its heart in the right place but wasn’t making the best use of its time.

“Salary should be tied to performance and in this instance I think it’s clear to most of us that the performance has been abysmal,” he said. “But that horse left the barn more than two years ago, and we actually caught the horse, beat it to death and we continue to whale on it.”